So in about 25 minutes the Greed Island arc is going to end and the Chimera Ant arc is going to begin.

I have two guest passes if anyone wants to watch it tonight, they're good until the 16th._________________...if a single leaf holds the eye, it will be as if the remaining leaves were not there.http://about.me/omardrake

Wait, did they? it's been WAAAAAAY too long. . . pm sent with code, 1 left._________________...if a single leaf holds the eye, it will be as if the remaining leaves were not there.http://about.me/omardrake

And the titans. So, so fuckin' creepy to see them animated, like they managed to find the absolutely nadir of the uncanny valley._________________...if a single leaf holds the eye, it will be as if the remaining leaves were not there.http://about.me/omardrake

Go. Watch it. Mecha, post-apocalyptic dystopia, far, far future. So far in the future Earth is a legend. And it's very well done. It reminds me a lot of [url]Origins: Spirits of the Past[/url], at least stylistically._________________...if a single leaf holds the eye, it will be as if the remaining leaves were not there.http://about.me/omardrake

After a long, anime-free period, I have embarked on a quest to watch all of Gundam, starting with the Universal Century stuff, (mostly) in production order. I feel like I mhst have gone slightly insane to embark on this undertaking. Spoiler-free thoughts on what I've watched in my current binge:

Gundam ZZ
This one gets panned a lot, and having enjoyed Gundam Z (some of it retroactively - I didn't like the early parts of that series until I saw where Kamile ended up as a character), I was worried. Turns out, it's pretty good (though not one of the best in the franchise), so long as you can put yourself in the right mindset. Remember Thundercats? Full '80s silliness, but it's a beloved series, because viewers just accept that as part of the show. The first half of ZZ (before they go to Earth, basically), is more serious than Thundercats, but is still stuck with the '80s goofiness. If you can accept that and roll with it, it's pretty good. Still has some mood whiplash, but I found that just kept me interested.

Some of the characters do get changes in characterization from past appearances, but I can accept that - Yazan had a massive change in circumstances from Zeta, Bright has a history of accepting the oddities of yound newtypes and fostering their development, etc.

I know the production reasons for the tonal shifts inherent in ZZ, but it actually works to mirror Judau's character development - he is a child at the start, and rapidly matures into a competent soldier. The show goes from childish to grim on the same pace he does - initially reluctant to kill (though some of the brutality of war slips in anyway), but gradually sobering as he becomes entrenched in the reality of what's going on, what he's a part of, and what he's done.

This will be continued shortly, because I've rambled longer than intended, am on a phone, and don't want to lose progress._________________“Yields falsehood when preceded by its quotation”
yields falsehood when preceded by its quotation.

i can completely understand why Tomino might have wanted to go more lighthearted after Zeta. i can just see him sitting back, looking at it, and going "wow, did i kill basically everyone in this show? and totally wreck the hero's brain? and make the AEUG's victory over the Titans pretty much totally meaningless? holy shit, i did. okay, let's have some hijinks here."

and this was after he did Ideon, where he eventually actually does in fact literally kill everyone.

Char's Counterattack
Was not impressed. It's short (2hr movie), and very worth watching if you're a UC Gundam fan (just for context on a major meta-series plot point), but otherwise? Eh. Some good fights, some odd pacing, inconsistent animation quality, and some terrible characters (Quess, I'm looking at you). This would benefit greatly from being expanded to, say, a six-episode OVA - improve the pacing, flesh out some problem areas, update the animation... could be pretty great with the right effort, and given the importance of its events? It deserves it.

Gundam Evolve
Not all UC, and (probably) not canon, but they're short. Varying quality. They're okay, but I wouldn't advise a huge effort to seek them out.

The War in the Pocket
I expected to hate this. Starts off with a great fight, involving my favorite class of suit designs (I'm weird, I know), and then follows a whiny child (theoretically eleven, seems eight or younger), leaving me dreading him as a pilot. Turns out my fears where unfounded - War in the Pocket is a tight, quick (six ~20min OVAs) story about love and the effects of war, told through the lens of a child. The cross-side romance is understated but effective. Honestly, the Gundam-setting is irrelevant; change some job descriptions and it would be just as effective a story in a village in WWII. The Gundam focus is low, but the actual work is excellent. It's not my favorite work in the franchise (because I like giant robots fighting), but it's probably my pick for the best of what I've seen so far.

Gundam Unicorn
Yeah, I skipped a few things. Doesn't matter, Unicorn is excellent. I have a feeling it could leave viewers without an extensive, working knowledge of the Universal Centurg fairly confused, and many great nods to the past would be missed entirely. Other than that, fantastic. Treasure hunt plot with top-notch fights, varied suit designs from the past several series. Everything works well. I'm probably going to track down the manga, just because I can't wait for episode seven to come out next year. Unicorn is probably my favorite Gundam series thus far.

...

Up next is Stardust Memory, F91, Victory, and the 08th Mobile Suit Team. Also plan to track down the rest of Char's Deleted Affair - I read the first 18 chapters and Haman's Deleted Affair, and it's great thus far. Between those manga and ZZ, Haman has actually grown on me a lot - I didn't care for her overly much in Zeta (and hated how she was portrayed in some of the games), but with more character development? She's an interesting female villain. Not overly sexualized (barring Machymere's perception), sane, competent, fearless and badass without just being bitchy, understandable in motivation... just a very well done character, I thought._________________“Yields falsehood when preceded by its quotation”
yields falsehood when preceded by its quotation.

i can completely understand why Tomino might have wanted to go more lighthearted after Zeta. i can just see him sitting back, looking at it, and going "wow, did i kill basically everyone in this show? and totally wreck the hero's brain? and make the AEUG's victory over the Titans pretty much totally meaningless? holy shit, i did. okay, let's have some hijinks here.".

I've also heard he was very depressed during the creation of Zeta, which led to his kill-em-all stance. You've got it right on his motivations for ZZ's lighter and softer start. Still... even though more people live (including on I thought was ham-fisted to the point of detracting from the story, though it's a big spoiler), the second half is nearly as dark as Zeta. Heck, just look to everything involving the Dublin Colony Drop. I think the Tigerbaum arc is a good example - it seems to be a callback to the first half's hijinks, starting with the same feel as the Moon-Moon arc (including some of the same characters!), and while it does have some silliness... it gets very, very serious, very quickly, and wackiness does not win the day._________________“Yields falsehood when preceded by its quotation”
yields falsehood when preceded by its quotation.